Fahrenheit 451: The Temperature at Which Paper Burns (teaser and discussion)

    Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury, is one of most famous dystopian books ever, and not without good reason. I read this book a year or two ago, and was immensely pleased by the choice I made to purchase it.

    The book follows protagonist Guy Montag in a futurist American city. In this dystopian world, books are forbidden, and people who are found with books are to have their collections burned. Guy, is a firefighter, but he doesn't put fires out. He is the one who burns the books. People in this world are entertained by giant TV's mounted in their houses, or by the Seashells they wear in their ears, like hearing aids. When I imagine this setting, I imagine a gray scale world, devoid of passion and liveliness. As the book progresses though, Guy becomes disillusioned with his job and the world he lives in, after his wife attempts suicide and a girl who he became friends with dies from a car accident. He becomes even more distraught when he arrives at an old lady's house to burn to her books, and she chooses to burn with the books. He begins to collect and stash books. One day, when Guy doesn't show up for work, his boss pays him a visit. Seeming to know Guy's secret, he tells Guy that it's completely normal for every firefighter to wonder what books provide. He then tells Guy why books were banned in the first place. He explains how minorities and other groups objected to books that they considered offensive, and as a result, authors began to write blandly as to prevent anyone from being offended. However, even this was not enough, and society decided to ban books altogether. Guy's boss gives him 24 hours to burn the books after he's done reading. Following this, Guy begins a journey to upheave the status quo.

    While researching this blog, I found an article which caught my attention, and really got me thinking. The author, Vivienne N. Germain writes "Like an emergency alarm, Bradbury intended his message to serve as a warning. He described himself as “a preventer of futures, not a predictor of them.”

However, it seems impossible to truly prevent a future, and “Fahrenheit 451” eerily predicts several elements of the present day. Long before their inventions, Bradbury wrote about in-ear headphones, flat television screens, and most scarily, an increase in book-banning. As the narrative’s earliest possible setting is 2023, “Fahrenheit 451” is crucially relevant in the present moment." This book was written in 1953. When I first read the book, I did not think about that at all. But looking at it now, it's shocking to see the similarities to today's world. Though I don't agree with everything the author writes: for example she describes the book as boring and lacking nuance, she is absolutely right to criticize today's society and some of Bradbury's views. 

I highly recommend reading this book, and would recommend looking the article linked below as a companion reading.  

-james

The article: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/6/12/fahrenheit-451-dystopian-book-censorship/#:~:text=I%20resented%20its%20obvious%20themes,complex%20enough%20to%20excite%20me.